I saw your 'pling pling' recording example, sounds good: I'm planning on auditioning both the MP3 and 24-bit/96kHz file using some high-end equipment; that's including my CA93 (max 48kHz playback). At least with my PC speakers I could hardly hear any difference.

Special request:
Would you like to make a really good benchmark recording between 2 and 4 (if you still remember what I mean), using both your high-quality H1 external recorder and the direct output of your CA63 internal USB recorder (no volume corrections)...

I know exactly what you mean I will do, cause you're the "Inventor" of real layered piano variations, and that gives you some credit!

Hi TADutchman,

As requested, here are the recording files. This time, for better comparison reasons, I first recorded as a MIDI in CA63 internally, and then recorded the playback with either H1 or by MIDI-to-USB-conversion.

1. CA63 Concert Grand, recorded in 96/24 with H1 and converted to 256kbit MP3:
http://www.mediafire.com/?6tb57cbelolx7cn

2. *deleted*

3. CA63 Concert Grand, recorded in WAV with internal convert MIDI-to-USB function:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ntw49ugohl5aetq

EDIT: Sorry, the second one does not seem to be the Steinway Patch, since the internal midi recorder seems to always playback using the original patch. The only thing that is different I guess is that the effect section is like the one for the Steinway patch. Sorry, I currently don't know how to handle this, and can't explorer this further. But anyway, you can clearly hear the difference at least in volume between the 1. H1 recording and the 3. internal recording

Thanks a lot for your efforts, I'll have a look tonight! (by the way, could you please rename the second one into something else, as otherwise people may confuse it with the Steinway patch).

TADutchman: I changed the files accordingly. If you want something different, just ask or you can modify it yourself (its open for shared editing).

Much appreciated.

Could we use both CA93 and CA63 in the file naming instead of CA63 only? (feels kind of weird as these dual voice settings have been developed on a CA93)

Well, from this morning and after two months of extensive research, I'm a happy owner of a Kawai CA93 So once it gets delivered I'll try all your patches.

Thanks TADutchman!

You're welcome, egallego!

Excellent choice i.m.h.o., especially after all your research.

Relatively speaking, the MP3-file sounds a bit muffled compared to the clarity/transparancy/attack of the 96kHz/24-bit recording. The differences are not big enough to be noticable with low-end consumer PC or really cheap hifi-gear though.

Conclusion: for studio work or for listening with audiophile equipment take the 96kHz/24-bit recording, otherwise the MP3-file should be just fine.

Concerning your Concert Grand recording, H1 vs USB: the analog cabled H1 is way superior in resolution and soul; it should have been the other way around (do I hear 'firmware update?').

Hi Stilgar, very good idea

Here's the revisited version: silvery and woody deep character, especially in the discant, check it out guys! Is this AvantGrand material or what?


BLENDED CONCERT GRANDEUR R2.0

Dual Voice: Concert Grand, volume 5 + Concert Grand 2, volume 5

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: low -2, mid -1, high -4

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: mellow 2
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 10 / 9
2 - 3 String resonance: 10
2 - 4 Key off effect: 9
2 - 5 Touch: light
2 - 8 Stretch tuning: Normal

3 Key Settings
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 8

Reverb: Hall 1

Effect: Delay 2, time 2, depth 3

About Electric Grands: specific Kawai EP-308 and Yamaha CP70/CP80 patches are already available (just look back in this thread), but what about a whole collection of various Electric Grands with on-the-fly preset-change?


THE ELECTRIC GRANDS COLLECTION R1.0

Dual Voice: Jazz Grand 2, volume 4 + ANY [E-Piano], volume 6

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: low +5, mid -1, high 0

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: mellow1
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 10
2 - 3 String resonance: 10
2 - 4 Key off effect: 7
2 - 5 Touch: light
2 - 8 Stretching tuning: Wide

3 Key Settings
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 9

Reverb: Stage

Effect: Tremolo, rate 5, depth 3

Looking for a more sophisticated authentic dirty tonewheel organ sound? Here's the first one:


CROSS-TALKING HAMMOND B3 - PART 1 R1.0

Dual Voice: Drawbar Organ 2, volume 6 + Be 3, volume 4

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: low +3, mid +6, high +6

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: mellow 2
2 - 5 Touch: off

3 Key Settings
3 - 3 Layer octave: +1

Reverb: Room 2

Effect: Rotary2 (slow/fast), speed 6, accell.spd. 6


@Kawai James: I noticed before, but forgot to report a bug: directly after assigning an organ patch to one of the panel memories, the live switching of Rotary Speaker speed with the soft-pedal does not work anymore (firmware v1.07).

TADutchman, thanks for reporting this - I will pass the bug report on to the R&D chaps tomorrow. I might even try to recreate the issue myself.

Cheers,
James
x

Thanks, James.

Let's position ourselves further away from the piano this time and listen in 3D to our playing from a first row audience perspective, with the true hall acoustic space filling the sound stage!

Let's say that some slight imperfections are included to make it even more realistic, i.e. the highest note sounds faulty (reported before for this specific combination of piano voices, just repeat that note at different velocities to hear it); let's call it a feature.


CONCERT HALL COLOURED GRAND R1.0

Dual Voice: Mellow Grand, volume 5 + Concert Grand, volume 5

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: low -4, mid -3, high -2

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: mellow 2
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 10
2 - 3 String resonance: 10
2 - 4 Key off effect: 8
2 - 5 Touch: light
2 - 8 Stretch tuning: Wide

3 Key Settings
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 8

Reverb: Hall 2

Effect: Delay 3, time 1, depth 6

ROFL! Gotta luv it! True love is blind.
Keep 'em coming, TAD!

You're a really funny guy, theJourney.

May I assume that my dedication and research (after benchmarking with other brands before purchase) have worked and that in the meantime you have already become a CA93/CA63 owner? This seems a reasonable assumption, as you have spent quite some time in this exclusive thread lately, looking for exceptional presets or should I say presets with exceptions? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone!

By the way, quite frankly, I'm mainly using these minor niggles in order to stimulate Kawai to release their next firmware update with some new features anytime soon...

TADutchman, you're the best (you know what I mean!)

Thanks for all the work you are putting into this. I was going to try out some of your patches but ran into a problem. How do you select dual voices with the same (or similar) patches? Sorry if this already have been answered somewhere in this long thread...

/ksk

You're welcome, also a good question, ksk.
Please find the text in italics below (just correct me if that's not what you were looking for, okay?).

I hope that Kawai James doesn't mind me copying a small part of the CA93/CA63 owner's manual here and altering it a little bit (I changed the first appearance of the word SELECT into 'group' and removed 'button' to make it hopefully easier to interpret; I'm not a native English speaker though):

To layer two sounds assigned to the same sound group, first press a SOUND SELECT button to select the initial sound, then press and hold the same SOUND SELECT button, and finally press the [up] or [down] buttons to select the desired layered sound.

This is now my favorite for all occasions:

WARM BABY-MEDIUM GRAND AT HOME R1.0

Glad you dig that project, Steve! It's based on an actual live home situation I witnessed where the acoustic grand, despite of a closed-lid, is real loud and warm at the same time!

TADutchman, nicely done.

Cheers,
James
x

TADutchman, thank you once again for your great work on these CA93/CA63 custom settings.

Having raised the topic of the Rotary slow/fast control with some colleagues, it would appear that there may well be a bug with the way the preset is stored/recalled from Registration memory.

We will have to continue studying the cause for this particular bug and see if it can be resolved in the future - thanks again for reporting this issue.

I'll obviously keep you informed of any developments.

Cheers,
James
x

Thanks for the compliment and for your fast info update, James!

Just make your own temperament for this special character grand; detune it a little this way and it's easy to imagine being almost two centuries back in time, playing like Chopin in his study room ...well, at least the first part.


ANTIQUE 1848 PLEYEL GRAND R1.0

Dual Voice: Concert Grand 2, volume 9 + W.Bass & Ride, volume 1

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: low +4, mid 0, high -2

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: mellow 2
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 9
2 - 3 String resonance: 10
2 - 4 Key off effect: 9
2 - 5 Touch: light+
2 - 8 Stretch tuning: Wide

3 Key Settings
3 - 3 Layer octave: +2
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 10

Reverb: Stage

Effect: Delay 2, time 2, depth 3

After a heavy playing session, I must say that, with subtle instead of over-the-top detuning and some small optimisations, this grand could even pass for a slightly imperfect and (therefore) very dynamic early 19xx grand:


ANTIQUE 1848 PLEYEL GRAND R1.1

Dual Voice: Concert Grand 2, volume 9 + W.Bass & Ride, volume 1

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: low +5, mid +1, high -4

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: mellow 2
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 10
2 - 3 String resonance: 10
2 - 4 Key off effect: 9
2 - 5 Touch: light+
2 - 8 Stretch tuning: Wide

3 Key Settings
3 - 3 Layer octave: +2
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 10

Reverb: Stage

Effect: Delay 2, time 2, depth 3

I've seen that people like CyberGene and several others prefer to use heavier touch keyboard settings. Therefore, I have started to fully optimise some of my excisting presets for this purpose. Here is the first organic, dark and deep sounding Heavy Touch Edition:


BLENDED CONCERT GRANDEUR R2.0 - HEAVY TOUCH EDITION

Dual Voice: Concert Grand, volume 5 + Concert Grand 2, volume 5

1 Basic Settings
1 - 3 Tone control: low 4, mid 3, high 0

2 Virtual Technician
2 - 1 Voicing: normal
2 - 2 Damper resonance: 10
2 - 3 String resonance: 10
2 - 4 Key off effect: 9
2 - 5 Touch: heavy
2 - 8 Stretch tuning: Normal

3 Key Settings
3 - 4 Layer dynamics: 7

Reverb: Hall 1

Effect: Delay 2, time 2, depth 3

Really good stuff this, thanks TADutchman. Glad I found this forum - I was pretty happy with my CA63 before, but these layered sounds are amazing.
I'm another fan of WARM BABY-MEDIUM GRAND AT HOME R1.0.
Shame there are only 8 registration memories...
Thanks again !

TADutchman, thank you for the preset Here is a recording I have made with it:

BLENDED CONCERT GRANDEUR R2.0 - HEAVY TOUCH EDITION.mp3

On speakers it's really warm but on headphones there are something like phase differences which are a little bit artificial. Not sure if it depends on the headphones.

Here is the same piece recorded with the plain vanilla CA63 sound with no tweaks (except for heavy touch and hall2 reverb):
Kawai CA63 - Concert Grand [default] - Heavy Touch - Hall2